Ministers Andersson and Kosonen to attend UNESCO General Conference

Minister of Education Li Andersson will attend the General Conference of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 13–14 November 2019 in Paris. Minister of Science and Culture Hanna Kosonen will attend a forum of culture ministers held in conjunction with the General Conference on 19 November.

The 40th session of UNESCO's General Conference will be held between 12 and 27 November 2019. The General Conference will decide on UNESCO’s programme and budget for 2020–2021 and start a discussion on the preparation of the next medium-term strategy for 2022–2029, to be decided at the 2021 General Conference.

The General Conference will elect new members to the Executive Board and to a number of other intergovernmental bodies. Finland was elected to the Executive Board for the 2018–2021 term at the previous General Conference.

Minister Li Andersson will lead the Finnish delegation and give Finland’s keynote speech at the plenary session on Thursday 14 November.

In conjunction with the General Conference, a number of side events will be organised, such as the education ministers' meeting on higher education and the culture ministers’ forum, where Finland will be represented by Minister of Science and Culture Hanna Kosonen. Minister Kosonen will also visit OECD and the Finnish Cultural Institute in France.

Together with India and UNESCO, Finland will organise an official side event ‘Media and Information Literacy and Games in the Digital World’, with a special Games Bar exhibition (12–22 November). In the exhibition, conference delegates can play mobile games, including those focusing on knowledge and learning. Sustainable development will be an element of the gaming content design.

Inquiries and interview requests:

Touko Sipiläinen, Special Adviser to Minister Andersson, Ministry of Education and Culture, tel. +358 295 330 143
Satu Mäki-Lassila, Special Adviser to Minister Kosonen, Ministry of Education and Culture, tel. +358 295 330 103

Inquiries about UNESCO and the General Conference:

Zabrina Holmström, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Education and Culture, tel. +358 2953 0114, mobile +358 40 768 1284
Piia Immonen-Seuguenot, Senior Specialist, Permanent Delegation of Finland to Unesco, tel. +33 1 4568 3433, mobile +33 6 2558 6949

• https://en.unesco.org/generalconference/40
• https://www.facebook.com/unesco
• https://twitter.com/unesco/, #40GC, #UNESCO, @FinlandUNESCO, @UNESCOFinland